Ratho Kroonkop

Ratho Kroonkop is an archaeological site located in South Africa, near the Botswana border. It is part of a wider range of sites that comprise the Shashe-Limpopo Confluence Area (SLCA), the region where the Shashe River and Limpopo intersect. It was occupied as early as 890 BCE by hunter gatherers through 1240 CE by people living in settlements such as Schroda, Mapungubwe, Bambandyanalo. Both Ratho Kroonkop and the wider SLCA are known for their history of rain-control. During times of drought, residents of the area would perform complex rituals in order to encourage rain to fall. At Ratho Kroonkop there are four rock tanks, holes formed in the center of a rock by water-weakened sandstone erosion, that held a combined 33,903 faunal specimens analyzed by zooarchaeologists. Most of these faunal remains are related to water through ethnography, marking this as a rain-control site. Notably, the rain-control rituals practiced at Ratho Kroonkop suggest that a partnership between hunter-gatherers and farmers created a unique culture.